What does the word conjugation mean?

If you are studying Spanish, you have probably heard or read the words conjugation and verb conjugation. Maybe you have encountered it in Spanish as conjugación.

The word conjugation refers to the changes that verbs experiment in their form, not only in Spanish, but in many different languages.

Take for example the English verb “to talk”. We change its form to “talks” when we refer to a third person. And we change its form to “talked” when we want to express that the action of talking happened in the past.

Take the verb “to eat”. We can also use it in different forms: eat, eats, ate, eating or eaten.

When we use a form of the verb that is not the basic form, we can say that we conjugate that verb. And the action of conjugating a verb is called conjugation.

The word conjugation is also used to refer to the whole set of possible forms in which a verb can be used. So, for example, the conjugation of the English verb to eat is formed by eat, eats, ate, eating and eaten.

While English has a relatively simple conjugation system, Spanish* has a rather complicated system in which the conjugation of a single verb includes many different forms. (*Spanish is not the only language that has a complicated verb system.)

This is because:

1. Every verb has a different form for each grammatical person (I, you, he…). While the English verb to talk has only two forms for the present, talk and talks, the Spanish verb hablar [to talk] has six different forms:

	PRESENT TENSE CONJUGATION
yo	hablo
tú	hablas
él, ella / usted	habla
nosotros, nosotras	hablamos
vosotros, vosotras	habláis
ellos, ellas / ustedes	hablan

2. Every verb has also a different set of forms to express different tenses.
For example, while English adds a word to a verb in order to express future (I will talk), Spanish changes the basic form from hablar to hablaré. And there we have again six different forms, one for each grammatical person.

	FUTURE TENSE CONJUGATION
yo	hablaré
tú	hablarás
él, ella / usted	hablará
nosotros, nosotras	hablaremos
vosotros, vosotras	hablaréis
ellos, ellas / ustedes	hablarán

Spanish has seven different sets of forms to express different stances of present, past and future events in which no extra words such as “will” or “would” are added to express those events, but the basic form of the verb is conjugated (changed). Since most sets include six different forms, one for each grammatical person, this results in around 40 different possible forms for each verb. These don’t include compound forms, but compound forms are actually easier to master.

Why it is important to study the conjugation of Spanish verbs

Even if the verb system of Spanish is more complicated than the English one, Spanish native speakers pick up most of the forms naturally in the same way they acquire the rest of the language.

However, the conjugation of verbs is still explained and practiced in elementary schools and junior high schools in Spanish speaking countries to help students master the usage of verbs.

If this study is needed by native speakers, it is obvious that learners of Spanish as a second language will also benefit from understanding and practicing the conjugation of Spanish verbs. Although they will pick up some forms when they read or listen to Spanish, and reading and listening will help consolidate in their memory the forms that they may have previously learned, active study of the forms is indispensable for any Spanish learner.

Spanish Verb Tense Names

Once we decide to study the Spanish conjugation system, a second issue arises:

We have said that there are at least 7 different sets of forms to express different stances of present, past and future events. Each simple form has a related compound form. That makes at least 14 sets. Each set corresponds to what is called a tense, which is a category that expresses time. And each tense has a different name. Those names were set by language scholars, and some of them are not words that we use in everyday conversation.

Let’s see some examples of the names given to Spanish tenses in English and Spanish:

ENGLISH	SPANISH
present	presente
present perfect	pretérito perfecto compuesto
preterite	pretérito perfecto simple
imperfect	pretérito imperfecto
past perfect	pretérito pluscuamperfecto
future	futuro

[You can learn the names of the most important verb tenses in the Spanish Verb Conjugation Section.

We could say that, technically, knowing the names of tenses is not required to speak the Spanish language. And many native speakers who haven’t studied Spanish since their school days have probably forgotten these names. However, learning the system without having a word to refer to the different tenses would result in a much harder endeavor than doing it while spending a little time learning the names. So learning the names is really worth the time and energy invested.

But don't worry, you don't need to learn the Spanish name. The important thing is that you have a name to refer to each tense.

Also, the tense name doesn't have to make sense at the beginning. You just have to make sure that you connect that name to that set of verb forms you are learning.

I must say that learning those names and connecting them to each set of verb forms is actually much easier and faster than learning tense’s usage possibilities. We are speaking about a dual situation in which:
-Memorizing the forms will help you understand the system.
-Understanding the system will help you memorize the forms.

It takes some practice, everything ends up fitting together.

Also, an image of the basic conjugation system of a verb, helps us understand it better.

We will continue speaking about the Spanish verb conjugation system in upcoming lessons.

Meanwhile, remember that you can start learning the conjugation of different verb in the Spanish Verb Conjugation Section.

I hope these explanation have helped you understand the concept of Spanish verb conjugation. If you have questions, requests or suggestions, don't hesitate to ask.